An agricultural harvester known as a “combine” is historically termed such because it combines multiple harvesting functions with a single harvesting unit, such as picking, threshing, separating and cleaning. A combine includes a header, which removes the crop from a field, and a feeder housing which transports the crop matter into a threshing rotor. The threshing rotor rotates within a perforated housing, which may be in the form of adjustable concaves and performs a threshing operation on the crop to remove the grain. Once the grain is threshed it falls through perforations in the concaves onto a grain pan. From the grain pan the grain is cleaned using a cleaning system, and is then transported to a grain tank onboard the combine. A cleaning fan blows air through the sieves to discharge chaff and other debris toward the rear of the combine. Non-grain crop material such as straw from the threshing section proceeds through a residue system, which may utilize a shredder assembly to process the non-grain material and direct it out the rear of the combine. When the grain tank becomes full, the combine is positioned adjacent a vehicle into which the grain is to be unloaded, such as a semi-trailer, gravity box, straight truck, or the like; and an unloading system on the combine is actuated to transfer the grain into the vehicle.
More particularly, a rotary threshing or separating system includes one or more rotors which can extend axially (front to rear) or transversely within the body of the combine, and which are partially or fully surrounded by a perforated concave. The crop material is threshed and separated by the rotation of the rotor within the concave. Coarser non-grain crop material such as stalks and leaves are transported to the rear of the combine through a chopper assembly and discharged back to the field using a spreader system. The separated grain, together with some finer non-grain crop material such as chaff, dust, straw, and other crop residue are discharged through the concaves and fall onto a grain pan where they are transported to a cleaning system. Alternatively, the grain and finer non-grain crop material may also fall directly onto the cleaning system itself.
Shredder assemblies for combine harvesters can take many forms, with the two main forms being chopper assemblies and beater assemblies. In a chopper assembly, rotatable knives cooperate with counter knives held by a chopper pan to cut non-grain crop material into finer pieces. In a beater assembly, a rotating beater typically “beats” the collected crop material against inserts held by a beater pan to accomplish free grain separation. In both cases, the collected crop material, with or without grain present, is typically shredded into smaller pieces.
Traditional shredder assemblies are difficult to service due to their location within the combine harvester. Typically, the operator wishing to service the shredder assembly must enter the rear of the combine harvester to access various components of the shredder assembly such as the counter knives of a chopper assembly or the inserts of a beater pan. This is inconvenient to the operator, because the operator must carry all necessary service tools into the combine and be careful not to misplace any tools in the combine that can interfere with operation if not removed. Further, the internal location of the shredder assembly components means that any increase in the amount of accessible space for the operator to service the components requires a decrease in the amount of space usable by the components within the combine or an overall increase in combine size.
One explored solution to make access to the shredder assembly more convenient is using a hood mounted chopper that is mounted near ground level and can be accessed from the ground. One particular problem with this approach is that the overall weight of the agricultural harvester is significantly increased to mount the chopper in this manner. Further, the weight is cantilevered rearward from the rear axle, negatively affecting the rear axle weight when considering road transport requirements.
What is needed in the art is a way to service shredder assemblies that overcomes some of the disadvantages of known shredder assemblies.